Pushbutton switches are well known in the art. A typical pushbutton switch has a plunger guide housing in which a plunger can be manually moved in an axial direction against the force of a return spring. The pushbutton switch can be secured my means of a securing device, such as, screws, and are known to contain at least one moving contact. Several control elements can also be provided with these switches, and these control elements can be arranged, for example, in series in the direction of the motion of the plunger, so that the moving contacts can be brought from one switching position into another switching position. The control elements can also be designed so that a return spring can act on the actuator which presses the actuator against one end position, which could be, for example, a “rest position,” and then by manually pressing the plunger again the plunger moves the actuator from the “rest position,” against the force of the return spring into another end position, which could be, for example, a “working position.”
U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,144 (Markus Kleeb), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a pushbutton switch that has a plunger guide housing in which a plunger is displaceably guided and on which control elements are detachably mounted on different sides of the plunger axis. Each control element is pushed onto a guide extending parallel to the direction of motion of the plunger and is held by a locking bolt which is rotatably mounted in the plunger guide housing. In each control element housing is mounted a spring-loaded actuator for displacement transverse to the direction of motion of the plunger, so that it can be moved by pressing the plunger from a rest position into a working position. This design has the effect that the forces produced primarily by the return springs of the actuators and transmitted over the actuators in their working position, do not exert a great force on the plunger extending parallel to the direction of motion of the plunger.
US Patent Publication No. 20070051602 (Jun-Ming Tan), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a sealed pushbutton switch (1) includes an insulative housing (2), a number of fixed contacts (7), an actuator (3) moveably retained in the insulative housing, a moveable contact (6) fastened to the actuator and including a pair of elastic beams (62) each provided with a contact portion (621) contactable to corresponding fixed contacts to establish a reliable electrical connection between the fixed contacts, and a spring (5) mounted below the actuator. When the actuator is pushed, the moveable contact has an agile movement to break the electrical connection between the moveable contact and the fixed contacts.
Thus, a need exists for an improved pushbutton actuator switch.
This invention overcomes the problems of the prior art and provides an inventive pushbutton actuator switch.